Question

The new key switch feature is nice, but is no good for any instrument which requires no key switch to be played in order to get the 'normal' voicing.

The current implementation doesn't allow for a 'no note' key switch to be defined in the Edit Key Switches dialog, neither does it allow for editing of the key switch's duration; any key switch remains activated indefinitely until it is changed.

Changing either of these would allow the key switching feature to be used for instruments which do not require a key to be pressed to achieve the normal voicing.  At present, I am still having to enter the key switches by hand in the piano roll for many instruments.

Answer 1

This is now possible with momentary keyswitches / sound variations.

Answer 2

If you look at the actual notes that Studio One creates with the Key Switches, you will see that the notes don't have the same length as the key switch blocks in the automation lane suggest. That means that what you want should be easily possible by just adjusting the key switch note length. But what might be related to your idea is Momentary Key Switches. There's another feature request in this category you might want to vote for since it suggests that the key switch blocks actually mirror the note lengths. This would allow supporting instruments like for example Forest Kingdom by Eduardo Tarilonte which uses articulations that are active while a certain note (key switch) is held.

Answer 3

@ jazzundso

Thank you for your response.  I already tested your suggestion before making my post; the key switch note length (i.e. the representation in the piano roll) does not correlate to the length of time that the key switch is 'held down' for.  The manual makes this quite clear:

"This entry remains in effect until another Key Switch note is entered, and so the colored bar stretches until the next Key Switch note event."

I'm not a big fan of the momentary key switch idea myself, as this could create very long 'key switch' notes in the piano roll area.  Being able to either edit the key switch duration in the automation lane or being able to create a 'no note' key switch would keep things tidier.

Answer 4

I strongly agree with your post — many libraries have "key switches" that don't stay latched and are only active when held down. There's currently no way to set up non-latching key switches SO5. The only way I can deactivate the current key switch is by creating a new event region, which is less than ideal.

Despite this, I'm enjoying the new feature and hope to see it improved even more!

Answer 5

I was just fighting with this today on a viola part (wanting to switch to pizzicato), and I kinda feel like there would be an easier more intuitive way for Presonus to do this in future updates. When you're recording and you are pressing key switches, you hear them change, and you think, "Okay it worked", but then you go back and listen to the playback and it's just set to the last key switch you pressed. Maybe the answer is they put an on/off type of control somewhere just to record key switches. I get it that they could interfere with actual playback notes, and something needs to be different, but I ended up having to paint them into the automation lanes manually. 

It's not too bad when you're working on string instruments where there are long sections that you want to change expression on, but if I was working on something that needs to be changed often (like a funk bass part), I feel like it should be easier to change them live. At least make the feedback while recording match the playback. I feel like in any good DAW, what you hear while recording, is what you should get.